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One morning, when a pall of smoke enveloped the city and the odors of coal-gas refused to lift their nauseating poison through the heavy air, Luther, chilled with dew and famished, awoke to a happier life. The loneliness at his heart was gone. The feeling of hopeless imprisonment that the miles and miles of streets had terrified him with gave place to one of freedom and exaltation.
In a balloon sufficiently perfect to retain its contents of coal-gas unaltered, in quantity or amount, for six months, an equal quantity of hydrogen could not be maintained in equal purity for six weeks.
One morning, when a pall of smoke enveloped the city and the odors of coal-gas refused to lift their nauseating poison through the heavy air, Luther, chilled with dew and famished, awoke to a happier life. The loneliness at his heart was gone. The feeling of hopeless imprisonment that the miles and miles of streets had terrified him with gave place to one of freedom and exaltation.
Immersing one gas in another, he determined their differential action; results of the utmost beauty being thus arrived at. Perhaps the most important are those obtained with atmospheric air and its two constituents. Oxygen, in various media, was strongly attracted by the magnet; in coal-gas, for example, it was powerfully magnetic, whereas nitrogen was diamagnetic.
The American whaling fleet, which at the time of Edison's birth mustered over seven hundred sail, had dwindled probably to a bare tenth when he took up the problem of illumination; and the competition of oil from the ground with oil from the sea, and with coal-gas, had made the artificial production of light cheaper than ever before, when up to the middle of the century it had remained one of the heaviest items of domestic expense.
It may be mentioned that the temperature of the gas in the condenser is reduced to about 60° F., but below this some of the most valuable of the illuminants of coal-gas would commence to be deposited in liquid form, and care has to be taken to prevent a greater lowering of temperature.
First, I shew you the combustion of hydrogen by itself. I have not a large supply, because the coal-gas is sufficient for most of our purposes. If I put a piece of lime obtained from this chalk into the gas, you see we get a pretty hot flame, which would burn one's fingers a good deal But now let me subject a piece of it to the joint action of oxygen and hydrogen.
It is a striking thing to see that the matter which is appointed to serve the purpose of fuel waits in its action: it does not start off burning, like the lead and many other things that I could shew you; but which I have not encumbered the table with; but it waits for action. This waiting is a curious and wonderful thing. I have here a supply of coal-gas.
About one pound of sulphur having been introduced into the retort and heated to the boiling-point, the tap of the aspirator is turned on and a current of coal-gas drawn through the boiling sulphur; the hydrogen sulphide formed is washed by the water contained in B, passes on into F, and finally into the aspirator.
A convenient apparatus for the preparation of hydrogen sulphide from coal-gas, such as we have at present in use in the Christ College laboratory, consists of a retort, R, in which sulphur is placed. Through the tubulure of the retort there passes a bent glass-tube, T E, perforated near the closed end, F, with a number of small holes.
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